Archive for July, 2013

Who said wind turbines could not be beautiful? This is a view across corn fields I took this weekend on my visit to Southern Sweden (where they are much more on the ball with investing in renewables so should be a real inspiration to us here in Dorset and the UK):

The old mill used here for food and the new mill used for energy shows wind power spanning the centuries and gathering natural carbon-less wind.

I have also come across this information on ‘Wind Farms FAQ’ by Hampshire Energy Group, who point out that “almost everyone has a strong opinion about wind farms and their impact on the environment. Unfortunately we usually have only partial information upon which to build that opinion. As a result, debates can break down as positions become polarised.”

Hampshire Energy Group say that “Of all renewable energy sources, wind power is unique. It is ready now, is widely distributed throughout the world, and can provide enough energy to make a real difference. By 2020, wind power alone can displace more than a third of the UK’s current annual CO2 emissions from electricity generation and over 10% of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. It has clear benefits, but are there any downsides?…”

They say that “Some people like the look of wind turbines, others don’t. But nationally, over 64% of people support them.”

Recent developments – subsidies for nuclear, the dash for shale gas, lack of certainty for investors about government policy regarding renewables, and the absence of a communications campaign to drive low carbon living – all point to a lack of commitment to the green agenda and the undermining of the Climate Change Act 2008. Is the UK government allowing big business to drive policy?

If you haven’t heard about the dangers of fracking yet, or have and wonder what the frack all the fuss is about, then this new video from the always inspiring ethical people at Lush Cosmetics (who started here in Poole, Dorset) explains it all!

Fracking is a threat to our water and our air. The oil and gas industry wants to frack the UK when we should be investing in more renewable, sustainable energy sources. Only we can stop them.

Lush are supporting Frack Off – a grassroots campaign group committed to stopping the spread of ‘extreme energy’ and unconventional gas extraction here in the UK.

This really interesting article called ‘Can Germany afford its ‘energy bender’ shift to green power?’ by Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent for BBC News, gives a glimpse into what an expansion of micro / community renewable generation could look like if it was whole-heartedly supported by our government here in the UK.

It also highlights some of the difficulties of the transition from big-business profit-focussed generation. I really like the idea of the ‘moral economy’!

Source London have continued to increase their coverage of EV charging points throughout the capital.
It’s amazing in such a short time to have access, as an Electric Vehicle owner, to so many opportunities to charge my LEAF.

Membership to Source London is only £10 per year and most charge points are free.
So now is the time to climb on board the new LEAF with its 130 mile capacity and reduce your carbon footprint, increase your bank balance and most of all bring tranquility and style back into your travel!

Why were the roads we have now originally made smooth, with a surface suitable for wheeled vehicles, or in some cases even built at all?

This is a question explored in a new book (see the video above) to be published in August (and available for free download on kindle and as a .pdf).

The book, “Roads were not built for cars” by Carlton Reed – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carltonreid/roads-were-not-built-for-cars-book-and-kindle-and, explores the early history of road building and improving in the UK and the USA – particularly looking at the period from 1880 to 1905, the golden age of the bicycle some would say. During this time the cycling lobby campaigned for better roads for cycling and the lobby was of such strength, with so many people cycling for work and leisure, that the existing roads were brought up to scratch and new ones built.

This it seems is a forgotten part of history and although the Automobile Association grew out of a sub group of the Cyclists Touring Club, the part cyclists played in ensuring roads were suitable for cars when they started appearing in numbers is generally overlooked (and until I came across this book on Kickstarter, was completely unknown to me).

So for all of us who use the roads – perhaps it’s worth bearing in mind how much we owe to those early cyclists for bringing many of them them to us. And for a more in depth understanding of how it all happened have a look out for the book when it comes out.

This latest info and report from The Corner House is always interesting and questions nearly all our help perceptions to do with renewable energy, so it’s well worth a read…

The main conflict in energy policy today is not between ‘business as usual’ and ‘The Alternative’, but among the many different proposed alternatives themselves.

The difficulty is not just that these alternatives are so diverse; the questions they address and the problems they aim to tackle are also different, as are the criteria for answering them, the vocabularies in which they are expressed, and the politics with which they are associated.

Figuring out what the assumptions and audiences of the various energy alternatives are is half the work of assessing where a democratic and survivable energy future might lie.

If the many divergent conversations about ‘energy alternatives’ taking place today around the world are to be brought together, analytically or politically, their points of difference and conflict as well as their possible areas of synergy must be recognized and mapped.

To support uncritically any and all initiatives that describe themselves as ‘energy alternatives’ would be to invite chaos and unending conflict — and would make a liveable energy future impossible.

A new 96-page report, ‘Energy Alternatives: Surveying the Territory’, from The Corner House and its partners, attempts to move discussions forward not by simplifying the debate but by clarifying how complex it is.

It sketches four crucial differences among leading types of energy alternative proposals and initiatives:

They are organized around different questions and audiences.

They rely on different conceptions of energy’s historical and social entanglements.

They follow different political theories and processes.

They have different understandings of the relationship between the local and the global.

The report explores each of these divides before outlining how — under these conditions of radical, contradictory diversity — civil society might best encourage the democratic dialogue and alliance-building that constitutes the most important aspect of effective action toward a survivable energy future.

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